Bomb threat forces evacuation of Seabreeze office building

The bank at 444 Seabreeze, the Raymond James building, received the threatening call after 9:30. Police said the caller demanded money to be wired.

LYDA LONGASTAFF WRITER

DAYTONA BEACH -- A rainy Monday turned hectic for police and firefighters when two men threatened to blow up a bank housed in the same building where the FBI has its area office and someone else sent a threatening letter to a circuit judge at the main courthouse on North Ridgewood Avenue. The threats were just two more in a long line of similar incidents across the country from Connecticut to California in the wake of the Boston Marathon bombings that killed three people and injured more than 170 on April 15. The events in Daytona Beach on Monday began just after 9 a.m. at the Raymond James Building, 444 Seabreeze Blvd., police said. The initial bomb threat call was made to the Fifth Third Bank on the first floor of the building, police spokesman Jimmie Flynt said. There were two callers, Flynt said, one man with a “good English accent” and the other man with “a heavy, unknown accent.” The first man said he wanted $1,000 wired through Western Union to a bank in London, Flynt said. The second man said he wanted money placed in a bag and that someone should walk out the back door of the building with the cash, Flynt said. “It's the same ruse that was used (over the weekend),” Flynt said, referring to two other local bomb threats. About 200 people evacuated the Raymond James building for more than an hour Monday. Two Volusia County sheriff's bomb-sniffing dogs were used in the building before the all-clear was given at 10:55 a.m. Besides the bank and the FBI, the building is also occupied by several law firms and other businesses. On Saturday morning, a man telephoned the Publix at Bellair Plaza in Daytona Beach just after 8 a.m. and said he wanted 1,000 British pounds sent to Western Union and deposited in an account in London. Before that call was made, though, someone called the Winn-Dixie in Daytona Beach Shores and also asked that money be wired through Western Union, police there said. In the Publix incident, the caller said there was another man inside the store and that “people would be hurt” if the money wasn't sent. A store employee wired the money through Western Union and the caller told the employee to get everyone out of the store within 30 seconds, police said. The store was evacuated and police were alerted. Nothing suspicious was found and the store reopened just after 10:30 a.m. The Publix employee was able to contact Western Union and cancel the transaction. Daytona Beach police Capt. Jim Newcomb said the call made Monday was traced to an “international pre-paid phone.” Newcomb said he believes someone stole the phone and was making the calls locally or the caller is familiar with the area and actually may have called from overseas. A little more than two hours after that incident, a suspicious letter addressed to a circuit judge was spotted in the processing center at the S. James Foxman Justice Center, 251 N. Ridgewood Ave. Officials with the Daytona Beach Fire Department and Volusia County Fire Services said the envelope containing the letter — a standard, white letter-size envelope — immediately caused concern because it was addressed to Judge R. Michael Hutcheson and it had no return address. A judicial assistant noticed the envelope was sealed with tape and she called two sheriff's deputies at the courthouse to investigate. Deputies took the letter, put it in a plastic bag and called the Daytona Beach Fire Department. The Volusia County Hazmat team was then called in to open the envelope and test its contents, said sheriff's spokesman Gary Davidson. The two deputies who touched the envelope were quarantined while two Hazmat team members examined the envelope and the letter. They tested the contents of the letter for anthrax and ricin but the results were negative, said Daytona Beach fire spokesman Lt. Larry Stoney. Last week, several bomb threats caused disruptions all over the country as people were on edge following the tragedy at the Boston Marathon. A 70-year-old man was arrested for threatening to blow up a mall in Bethel Park, Pa., on Sunday. The suspect said he had the same kinds of explosives as the ones used in Boston, according to a published report. Los Angeles was also put on alert mode on April 18 with five bomb threats in one day, including one at a Hooter's restaurant. Monday morning, the state superior court in Stamford, Conn., was threatened with a bomb, as were three hospitals in Cullman, Ala. Police at the scene of the Daytona Beach bomb threat said Monday that they expected more threats this week. Cmdr. Nick Castelli of Volusia County Fire Services said several threats were made in this area soon after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.